There are some things in life you don't truly understand until you experience them. I was given plenty of parenting advice when my son was born, but it only took me so far. Nothing prepared me for the first time our baby decided to roll over… right off the bed onto the floor (luckily we had a pile of laundry serving as a cushion). If you've never been a parent, you simply don't have a lot of personal experience to draw from. It's a complete trial by fire, full of missteps, emotions, and anxiety.
In a way, starting Greenlane was a similar experience. Greenlane Search Marketing, LLC is my startup boutique SEO agency. It started in 2005 as a sole proprietorship consulting practice. It was my baby, and I had to let it grow up. Now it's a partnership between myself and a long-time colleague Keith Urban (not the singer). However, differing from the parenting example, I did have some practical experience to guide me this time. I ran an SEO department in a major digital marketing agency. Regardless, it became very clear we didn't know a thing about truly running an agency. We were new parents.
What to expect when you're expecting
We expected to be busy. We knew we'd make mistakes, and we thought we had a solid business plan in place. In the end we were busier than expected, made more mistakes than we care to admit, and our plan fell apart on a weekly basis. But I'm proud (and relieved) to say we're successful. We have a great staff of smart SEOs and digital marketers. We have happy clients. We have a great network of people to tap into. We're profitable, targeting half a million in fee revenue by the end of 2014. We survived year one, where 25% of startups crash. We're on yet another phase of growth, with our legal and taxation items well managed, our employment under control, and the company as a whole being positioned to overcome year two.
For me, that's an enormous win.
Specifically, what was our secret? Hell if I know. But I think it's this fuzzy formula: Take what you hear, mixed with what you've experienced in life, multiplied by your best guess, and divide by quick, brave decisions. But we also had a motto, one that became our backbone: "Always make it better!"
Making it better for you and your clients
This is a post about some of the more conceptual, "outside the normal" things we implemented to constantly improve our company from the start. These are based on my life experiences and recent business victories. My hope is that this will serve as fodder for your own company, even if you're not the proprietor. This post is not about tax management, or accounting, or filings—this is about the day-to-day behavioral things that can make your digital marketing company a great place to be, to the benefit of you and your clients.
And to sprinkle in a little fun, since I said life experience fed into many of our first year decisions, I'll supplement each section with something from my own awkward photo album.
On to the tips…
#1 - Think about your group experiences
For those who played team sports, remember when your parents said, "One day this will make you better at your job!" Go tell them they were right. Working as a team is an invaluable skill, improved only through experience and introspection. We've all engaged in group experiences, from grade school to our earliest jobs. Everyone has some kind of group or department participation to draw on. Maybe it's as simple as cub scouts, a yearbook committee, or in my case, a rock band.
Additionally, we've all either seen—or have been—the flunky in the group, doing the least amount to make the group as a whole succeed. There's also the opposite—a "Johnny-Come-Lately" who shows up with good intentions but sticks a giant crowbar into the gears, grinding progress to a screeching halt. We've seen the drama and anger that comes from personalities that just don't mix. Nothing slows down momentum more than an unfocused crew rowing in different directions. An agency is no different. You will always have bosses, clients, and employees that behave or think differently than you. You simply need to learn how to overcome.
Someone once told me you can't be a boss and a friend. I've never disagreed with something so hard in my life. A friendship presents an amazing bond of trust. At Greenlane we've carefully selected co-workers who we enjoy being around. We all have different talents and roles in the company, but you see virtually no instances of "pulling rank" over anyone else. There's a respect that drives each of us to do a good job for each other. It creates more open and creative dialogue. If you don't feel like you have anything to prove, you can more easily pause, listen, and learn. We don't want to let each other down, but we all feel empowered to counter an idea without fear. The best idea wins, and our clients (as well as ourselves) become more educated. We've nurtured a really powerful environment. The bigger your group, the harder this is, but certainly not impossible.
We take the same approach with bringing on clients. We call them partners—a term I took from an old gig. Just as we are being paid to help businesses be successful, their actions have a lot of bearing on our success as a vendor—not to mention our own happiness. I'll often tell a prospective partner, "just as you're auditioning us, we're auditioning you too." That could come off cocky, but any prospects we lost for that statement were probably not going to last in the long run. In fact, I ask all prospective clients to first read our website, where we openly talk about the kind of clients we're looking for. About two-thirds return super qualified, with the remainder vanishing forever. Those that return often say, "you are exactly what we're looking for." It's a bit like online dating.
I wish we could say we've never lost a client due to poor performance. We have. Two of them actually. But in retrospect, this provided good lessons on where we needed to improve. In one case it was due to never being on the right wavelength to begin with, and the other was simply based on poor communicating. We largely (and swiftly) pivoted internally to make sure we never make those mistakes again. As a company, we were all just rowing the wrong way. Catching it early allowed for a very quick adjustment.
By the way, I'm well aware that some internal hierarchies don't allow you to have a say on the clients that come in. While that is unfortunate, it is also common. But what's to stop you from climbing the totem pole and pleading your case?
The TL;DR tips:
- Don't just act like you're interested in every word of your clients and employees, truly be interested. This is their time to talk, and your time to pause, listen, and ask valuable questions. Work together!
- Ask your clients questions. Let them understand it's your job to pull information out of them. Don't be a yes man; be a friendly challenger in order to get everyone nodding in the same direction.
- Work with your team, not against them. If you're not actively on the account and their day-to-day work, be careful not to break the flow of the meeting throwing out ideas that counter the direction the account managers want to go. Get yourself on the same page, even if you're the boss.
- Have a postmortem on every lost employee or client account, and drop your defenses. Try to figure out what could have been improved as a group.
- You've been an SEO for over 15 years? Good for you. Now sit down and listen to everyone else's ideas. Be an equal.
#2 - The people you meet could become important
I'm often asked how we perform lead generation. Our primarily lead source is our network. Keith and I are very lucky in that regard, both coming from the big agency world. Big agencies seem to organically create seedlings that go off to start new companies or work with other established businesses. From former clients to former co-workers, developing serendipity every chance you get, should be a 24/7 goal.
You never know when someone you've met will hit it big. If you leave a good impression, they may invite you to their next party.
Digital marketing is one of those rare industries. There are millions of lawyers and accountants, as well as designers. There are relatively few SEOs, PPC experts or affiliate marketers. Make the right impression and your name will get passed around quickly. If you have a bad reputation, or are generally unliked, the word spreads just as fast. I've picked against vendors for my clients (or when I worked in-house) simply based on how phony they came off. I'll probably have this put on my tombstone because I say it so much, "Perception Is Reality." Let that one sink in. It doesn't mean "fake it," but be genuine and supportive.
I wrote a post that I still think about often. It was called " Create Your Own SEO Serendipity." I don't know how, or where, or why I started doing it, but I've been in the "serendipity" game for a long time. "Karma" might be a possible synonym. Building up your network is one part of the puzzle, but building it so you're memorable is a whole other piece that may require a bit of introspection on your end.
In hindsight, I spent my entire professional career mirroring my personal life—be good and helpful to everyone you meet. Sure you get burned if others take advantage, but when a referral comes in from an old colleague, I'm thrilled. It's that warm feeling that makes "doing business" pretty damn fun.
The TL;DR tips:
- Stay in touch with everyone you can by any means necessary. The tiniest little gestures—like endorsing a skill or expertise on LinkedIn, or buying someone a beer at a convention—can sometimes bring you top of mind when you need it most.
- In my experience job titles don't necessarily mean everything. Personality and kindness go further. Always be willing to support someone's little needs. Free advice or work can turn into major opportunities.
- Answer everyone's emails, tweets, texts, whatever. Very few of us really can't find the time.
- Don't just wait for people to call you. If you generally feel good about all your encounters, there's nothing wrong with reaching out and saying, "Thanks for the great talk at the meetup last night. I wanted to see if I could help you solve that problem we were talking about."
- Create serendipity every day.
- Create serendipity every day (worth mentioning twice!!!).
#3 - Hire people smarter than you
Around 2009, I remember the CEO of GSI Commerce said this at a company meeting I attended (paraphrasing)—"I built this company by hiring people smarter than me." This off-hand comment was a real wake-up call for me. He's since sold his company to eBay, and moved on to restart something new. If this tip helped make someone a billionaire, there must be something to it
My partner and I didn't read many business books. Personally, I tried, but rejected most of them. I stubbornly refused to buy into some of the concepts. However, there were a few where I recognized common threads. Books like Good to Great, How To Think Like A CEO, The Outsiders, and The Corner Office didn't have a "fake it until you make it," or "kill or be killed" lesson. Instead, they highlighted leading by example, taking calculated risks, being human, and learning from everyone around you.
We candidly tell our prospects that we hire people with unique experience for the sole purpose of supporting the clients. We reveal that Keith's background is in data and analytics, Mike's is in design and development, Jon's is in PR and outreach, and so on. We're not all experts at everything. We're very clear that any of our team may work on an account dependent on a given strategy. It's honest and realistic, and goes over well with prospects. Meanwhile, in the office, we have a lot of co-mingling, where each teammate may join another to work out a specific problem. I'm the old dog in the group, but I'll tell you the honest truth—I learn something every day from this team.
The client wins, my company improves, and my own personal development grows. What more could anyone want out of a job?
The TL;DR tips:
- Let smarter (or more experienced) people help guide you. It's a win-win situation for everyone involved.
- Don't act like you know it all. Your employees and your clients will see right through this.
- If you don't know the answer, let your clients know that you may have someone in your fold that might have the answers. When your company is hired, so is your entire organization. There's nothing wrong with this!
- Encourage your team to speak their mind, take a chance, and kick your ass. When they do, give them a high-five.
#4 - Don't be so serious
Last but not least, have fun.
Keith and I don't need to remind ourselves why we took this risk. It's fun every day. Business is a game, and we're enjoying our time on the field. No more toxic relationships, no more loss of control, and no more sitting in the "peanut gallery" watching other people do it wrong.
Be serious enough to hit your deliverables, make your marks count, and help your clients win. But why not do it with a smile? I've always heard that working in marketing and advertising is one of the most stressful jobs you could have. It doesn't have to be.
We didn't build our company with a textbook or a degree. The more I experience, the more I see most people in our field didn't follow a rule book either. Great businesses are managed by CEOs who take chances, with varied personality traits and levels of intelligence—something school doesn't necessarily teach anyway. For years I thought I'd have to be an "American Psycho" type business-genius with an MBA, a big vocabulary, a clean haircut, and a country club membership. I have none of those. In the end, I honestly believe we were guided by our own experience, serendipity, and common sense. It's been a great ride so far, with a lot more learnings—and laughs—to be had.
Besides, if the business folds tomorrow, at least I achieved the biggest thing on my bucket list. So there's that.
Hey Bill,
Sometimes a post is written that you so relate to, you just have to drop everything and read it - this post is one of those. And a huge "THANKS" for sharing your story.
Love your fuzzy formula "Take what you hear, mixed with what you've experienced in life, multiplied by your best guess, and divide by quick, brave decisions" and your inspiring motto "Always make it better!"
At DWM, we take the same approach to pre-qualifying clients. When you approach then with a "auditioning both ways" mindset, the right potential clients respect you and know that you won't just work with anyone for the money. Indeed, rather than being cocky, it shows you're serious about wanting to help the right ones flourish online.
One of the biggest challenges many have is in asking the hard questions at the outset and helping clients understand why we do this is so critical. Plus it de-qualifies tire-kickers and those wanting to use us as "cannon fodder" against other agency or consultant quotes.
Post-morterms are such a necessity - how else can we improve as consultants? We scrutinise analytics, Google and performance - we should also do the same internally on how we work, what we do and why we sometimes lose.
Agree 100% with job titles - it's the relationships we build and the willingness to help that shows our human, compassionate site.
A very inspiring post & kudos to your growth / revenue projections for the end of 2014!
Glad to know you and Greenlane far better :)
Thanks Tony, and thanks for the mention on #maximpact and kind words on Twitter. I was traveling to see clients most of the day, but I caught it, and it made me happy. I'm know you have plenty to teach us too!
Wonderful post, you sound like the kind of guy people really want to come to work for, which isn't a common a trait as it ought to be, in any industry quite frankly. Good luck in taking your agency up to the next level.
Edit: By the way your line You've been an SEO for over 15 years? Good for you. Now sit down and listen to everyone else's ideas. Be an equal. is possibly the best line anyone has ever written. Way too much of that attitude going on in Search for my liking!
That means a lot. I try. Thank you for reading!
Thanks for sharing your story Bill. I enjoy reading about others' stories, successes, struggles, and lessons. I appreciate the insight and transparency for the rest of us to learn and grow from.
Cheers,
My pleasure. Just paying it forward, as others have done for me.
I worked in a mid-sized agency for a few years. I was one of the few originals from the incubator. Over time, whether from being over-worked or a cultural shift, I began to dislike every moment I spent in the office.
Nearly a year ago, I left and joined a merry band of misfits. Everything is going well and it looks like we'll hit year two even stronger. Funny what happens when people have both accountability and control, no?
I was a machinist with a college concentration in Business Administration/Marketing. I stumbled into the industry as a copywriter. A little bit of curiosity and the proper ethos can lead to interesting things.
Also, I believe you're correct in regard to how one should treat their team. I never cared what title I had. I could be called The Potentate of Pastrami, and it wouldn't make a difference. I work *with* people. It usually yields better results.
Thanks for writing this. It's the closest corollary to my experience I've found.
"Funny what happens when people have both accountability and control, no?" <- love that.
Thanks much for the comment, and teaching me the word "corollary" and "potentate." Congrats on your success and happiness.
It's one thing to hold someone accountable, it's another thing to give them the ability to change the situation. I used to live in a Nanny State, which precluded a lot of necessary changes. Now, not so much.
And thanks much.
Sounds like your old work situation still angers you Travis, glad you managed to get out of there :)
Caitlin, that's what I was hoping for. I'm glad it resonated with you, and I hope it moves you in a positive direction going forward. To yours, and everyone's benefit hopefully.
I like your heading "Hire people smarter than you". I have known people who worked by this concept to a point of extreme. Not knowing anything really about their industry, but getting the right people in the company which then made them the most successful people I have ever met. I am not saying you do not know much about the SEO industry, I am just agreeing with your statement. Kind of makes me remember the saying "a dumb person learns from their own mistakes, a smart person learns from others mistakes". Great read and thank you. Best of luck with Green Lane SEO!
on another topic and completely irrelevant: your moz profile pic looks like John Travolta =p
Thanks for the comment. Funny - I've never been compared to John Travolta. John Lovitz, maybe...
I like the strategy you use to qualify clients. Cocky yes. Effective yes. It's all about knowing how to choose those battles. Great article. Best of luck to you in the future.
Choosing battles is an art-form :)
Just because you have expertise, doesn't mean you are equipped to offer it as a service. Even with years of SEO, PPC, Social Media and analytics under your belt, you can't build a successful agency without equally strong account management and leaders who acquire clients from their network. Bill, your piece provides an excellent explanation of the holistic approach which is crucial to the agency side.
Thank you Benjamin. I hope more run this way than I think :)
Awesome post Bill! Your comment "Make the right impression and your name will get passed around quickly." is key. I always believe to go above and beyond what a client expects and do your best to give them a positive roi on what they pay you. Back in the day, when I had a small web design/mkt firm, we didn't spend time and money mkt the company. Instead, we used that time on the clients. Sure enough word of mouth spread enough to keep us busy full-time.
Word of mouth is the oldest form of marketing!!!
Algorithm and Blues! Love it. Thanks for sharing your wisdom.
Good stuff, Bill! The first year is an important milestone, I suppose because it's a time-frame that holds some meaning for us. But the first decade and the first million are probably just as cool (if not more so). Congrats on putting that milestone behind you and setting your eyes on the next one. Sounds like you've found your formula!
Hi there, Bill! :)
It's great to know the experiences you had been. Thanks for sharing your parental and career experiences.
I really like this post because I can feel that you are a person that is open for all circumstances (not mentioning your experiences in establishing your own SEO agency).
Well, as for me, it is very important for everyone to have a fair mindset in order to achieve the goals in life, just like what you have achieved and is going to achieve in the future.
Your tips are indeed brilliant, practical and valuable as well.
More power!
Best,
Ann07
[link removed]
This was a fun read with great information! Hoping to take a lot of these tips into my career.
I set up my agency Q-Online 3 years ago and survived successfully...The biggest challenges I faced were that it was difficult to be more organised.=, staying focused, hiring people smarter than you when you don't have enough finance. We also learnt that for us to grow we must focus on delivering better results to our clients than spend time in finding new clients. So during early years our approach not just helped us build good case studies but it also generated new business when our happy clients recommended us to other businesses.
I strongly recommend new agencies to focus on their existing clients , spend more time on high value tasks and be more organised.
Thanks for sharing your experience and this article
A very interesting piece to read.
Well first and foremost, congrats! I know for sure that starting a company could be stressful. I just want to share a quote from Bill Gates. "I will always choose a lazy person to do a difficult job because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it." Although it seems funny, It is probably true. Although you may want to check the quality of the work from time time.
Wow, did he really say that? I have to disagree with that one, but it might explain why Windows was buggy for all those years.
Bill,
Your story and experiences are really very touchy and useful. You're absolutely right, starting a new company and successfully passing the initial phase is not an easy job.
Boarding the competence people is always the crucial part of start ups. And, according to the stats of Statistic Brain, "Incompetence is the main cause of failure for 46% companies".
I really like your point about hiring the smarter people but I'd like to know being the successful marketer, musician, singer and the owner of great company, do you give any kind of importance to a person who has the degree in comparison to the under-graduate or drop-out?
Thanks again for sharing your experiences.
Good luck and congrats to whole GreenLaneSEO's team. :)
Umar, you are too kind to me.
But to answer the question, the degree signals to me someone who follows through with their goals. But intelligence can be present even without a degree.
This is what I expected. Thanks Bill! You're awesome :)
Fantastic tips and insights, Bill. Thanks for sharing.
As someone else who's also just hit their 1st birthday (congrats on yours!) for their freelance business, but who hasn't hired staff (yet), this particular snippet has been my wake-up call:
"Someone once told me you can't be a boss and a friend. I've never disagreed with something so hard in my life. A friendship presents an amazing bond of trust. At Greenlane we've carefully selected co-workers who we enjoy being around."
I'm very much a try-to-make-friends-with-everyone kinda guy, but I'm worried that that'll make me a terrible manager/leader (David Brent-style). So it's reassuring to hear that somebody took that approach head-on and that it's working well. Thanks Bill :-)
P.S. ...Is that a pic of a young you with a young Adam Sandler? Awesome :-)
Yes. I was wondering if anyone would recognize him :)
Congrats on your anniversary too, my friend!
Great advice here - you're nothing without the right people. You SEOOO... look like Noel Edmunds in a dress!
And here I thought I looked like my mother.
Hey Bill, this is a perfectly timed post for me. I just ventured out into the big bad world 2 months ago and so far have been experiencing a mixture of emotions from terror to euphoria to anxiety then all the way around to massive well-being. It certainly is a strange mix.
As for the serendipity thing I totally agree. It's already paid off for me and I hope it will bring in more opportunities in the future. Congratulations on your first year and all the best in your second.
Also- Algorithm and Blues- best band name ever. We'll need to get a jam next time I am in the area.
Hit me up on Twitter, I'd love to chat about how it's going for you.
Unfortunately that band name was the false item, but you'll see me playing around Philly plenty, so jump up on stage if you make it out.
As someone who's been through a Year One agency/startup experience, this is an incredibly open and honest post. Really appreciate these words, Bill.
Thanks Brady. I'd love to read your thoughts on what to expect for year two!
Ha! Well to be quite honest not sure I'm qualified to guide people to leading an agency/startup through Year 2! I'm just an SEO with a few years experience, not 15 years who's always been running an awesome successful agency for awhile now (and who also knows Adam Sandler!?).
But if I were to take a crack at it, the more I think about it, the more I realize the information and tips would largely be the same. If not exactly the same. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? Seriously though, I'm not sure Year 2 should change much.
But I don't know, I'll happily refer to you though. Am I wrong?
I always enjoy these types of posts. We have been going since 1998, although I became a partner in 2008 I believe. Revenue grows year on year, but trying to beat the previous year always causes anxiety, even after this length of time in business.
The only road we haven't gone down and will probably stay firmly away from is employing people. We have a couple of really great people we team up with when the need arises which ensures our clients get the best advice possible.
I think teaming up is great. We have some "preferred" vendors we team up with, and come to think of it, I think the same relationship nurturing is 100% valid for them too.
Great article. Thanks for the transparency. None of us are perfect and are all trying to figure out how to do our best, make clients happy and find competent help.
One of many things we learned in addition to all that you have said is that clients judge you by what they see not by what you are doing behind the scenes on their behalf which eventually will be of great benefit to them.
If rankings don't go up overnight, they freak out. If a blog post has a typo you are an idiot. If their social media profile page doesn't look like their multi-million dollar company competitors -they try and fire you. It's often the little things that bite you in the ass every time - no matter how hard you try to address them from the beginning:)
That's the awful truth of "perception is reality." The best you can do is apply more positivity in to outweigh the negativity. Or, never make typos... but that's not human.
Bill, these pictures really made the post click! It's great to hear you survived year 1, and am excited to see where Greenlane SEO will go in the next 365 days.
Most of the time I have personally experienced that we fail to admit our own mistakes as a boss or owner. Sometimes we loose our good employee or a client just because we didn't acted timely and made mistakes in assessment.
You have made that point with a more suitable word POSTMORTEM, that's a good point to consider and act.
Regards
Sasha
I used to avoid looking in the mirror, but eventually realized I wasn't seeing what wasn't working. Maybe it's the hippie in me, but introspection and self realization has always been important to me. Thanks for the comment!!!
Wonderful insights! I think many would agree with me when I say - I instantly felt motivated after I finished reading this post. Thanks, Bill! ^Caitlin
Whoops - see comment below :)
I think you mentioned especially the right methods to form a strong team, manage and maximize their potential. I especially like the fact that in a society, seriousness is not the only language to be adopted. Great article.
Hey Bill...
You have bring in really great points. I can assume that you have gone through various ups & downs while running Greenlane Search Marketing, LLC which I can realize from your posts & the good thing is that you have layed out on how to survive & sustain in this industry during those phases. This will really help the start ups. I really like some of your points -
#Group Experience - Ask questions to client, Listen, Discuss, Don't be a YES MAN.
#Hire Smart People
I would be curious to know what is the first challenge you faced during the start up of Greenlane.... :)